


Geurimja

by tiddywrites



Category: VIXX
Genre: Angst, I Only Have a Faint Idea of Where This is Going, M/M, Mafia AU, but it'll be an angst fest, welcome to wip hell
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-03-21 05:36:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13734255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiddywrites/pseuds/tiddywrites
Summary: Taekwoon is the right hand of the mafia boss of the infamous mafia group Geurimja, Cha Hakyeon. His life is rather uncomplicated until he stumbles into the beautiful police officer Lee Hongbin, whose mere gaze takes Taekwoon’s breath away and suddenly Taekwoon’s life isn't as simple anymore.





	1. Prologue

_Click, clack, click, clack, click, clack._ The heels of her shoes hit the wooden floor, the sound resonating in the quiet room. Several museum guests turn their heads to look at her walking down the room, hips swinging from side to side. The sound comes to a sudden halt when she stops in front of one of the paintings. She purses her wine-red lips as she watches the painting in front of her. It’s a jumble of oranges and blacks and greens and browns, a figure in the front, barely a person, staring at her with empty eyes, mouth wide open in a silent scream. There is something frightening about the painting, and yet she isn’t able to take her eyes of it.

“Ah, pretty…” a soft voice mutters quietly next to her. She turns her head to see a man standing there, his eyes locked on the painting on the wall. He’s a rather tall fellow with dirty blonde hair and a set of nut brown eyes. His hands are buried deep in the pockets of his black trench coat as he contemplates the painting. As if he feels her eyes on him he turns his head. “Don’t you think?”

“T-the painting?” she stutters, startled by his sudden question. She manages to collect herself and answers with a slightly firmer voice. “I find it kind of… unsettling.” He raises his eyebrows, surprised by her answer, but smiles as he turns his head to the painting once again.

“I can see why you would think that,” he says, his voice light and musical. “Did you know that the artist was inspired for the painting when he was walking along a path between the city and the fjord? He wasn’t feeling well, and when he looked out over the fjord he felt as if a scream was passing through nature. So, he painted the picture… painted the scream.”

“Oh really?” she asks, voice full of anticipation, heart beating rapidly in her chest from talking with him. He nods and looks back at her, activating a light pink blush in her cheeks.

“Actually, some scientists think that the person in the foreground was inspired by a mummy the artist saw in Paris,” he carries on, barely stopping to breathe. “I read online that it was buried with its hands like that.” At his words he nods towards the painting and puts his hands on his cheeks, mimicking the expression. She can’t help but giggle at his silliness, which seems so out of place in the big quiet room. “So, I understand why you would find it ‘kind of unsettling’.”

“A bit of an art enthusiast, Mr.…?” she says, making the last part of the sentence sound questioning enough for him to answer.

“Just Ken, please.” He smiles at her, perfect white teeth sparkling, making her heart beat even faster in her chest. “What’s your name?”

“Lee Yejin,” she answers him, returning his smile.

“Lee Yejin…” he repeats slowly, tasting each syllable of her name. “That’s a very pretty name.”

“Thank you,” she says breathlessly. She can’t take her eyes off his face. The perfect chiseled jaw, the straight nose, the high cheekbones and the almond shaped eyes, their deep brown irises sparkling in the light from the bright light from the ceiling lamp. He’s beautiful. And she had promised herself to not fall as easily for someone anymore, but it’s as if every beaming smile and every softly spoken word only draws her closer, making her want him even more.

“Ken is a rather unusual name?” she says, trying to snap herself out of her endless stream of thoughts.

“Actually, it’s more of a pen name,” he says, and when she raises her eyebrow at him he adds. “I do a little bit of painting myself, so my friends usually just call me by that name.”

“Oh, I see, how interesting,” she says with a smile, melting like butter between his hands. “What sort of paintings do you do?” He shrugs. “All sorts… currently I’ve been challenging oil painting.” He pulls his right hand out of his pocket, holding a slim black smartphone in his hand. A single click on a button brings it to life, and a wave of relief rushes through her when she sees nothing but a plain light blue background. No girlfriend.

“This is the most recent painting I’ve done,” he says as he opens a picture from the gallery, handing her the phone. The picture is a little shaken but that doesn’t make the painting he’s showing her any less beautiful. On the canvas in the picture she sees a little white house with ochre orange tiles, hidden away behind a bush of the most beautiful flowers. She recognizes purple lavender and yellow daffodils, but there are also hints of pinks and whites that she doesn’t recognize.

“Of course, a mere picture on a mobile device doesn’t truly capture the magnificence of the real thing,” he says, looking at the phone from over her shoulder. “But still, I did a pretty good job on this piece, if I may say so myself.”

“It’s beautiful,” she says, giving him a smile as she hands him back the phone. “You’re really talented.”  Her heart skips a beat at the flattered smile she receives from him.

“Thank you so much,” he says. “I see you have a great eye for art.” His words are followed by a warm chuckle, and she can’t help but laugh with him. Even though she has only known him for mere minutes, she already feels more comfortable in his company than she had with her last couple of boyfriends. And she knows it’s silly, but there’s just something soothing about his warm voice and the way he looks at her.

“I mean, I would love to show you the real thing some time,” he says, with a tone in his voice that she hasn’t heard before. Almost like he’s a bit… nervous?

“I would love that,” she says with a smile, and before barely thinking her words through follows it up with, “In fact, I don’t have any plans this evening.” His face lights up at her words, sending a rush of warmth through her entire body.

“Well, Lee Yejin-ssi,” he says, a confident smirk pulling the corners of his mouth. “It would be my pleasure to escort you to my humble atelier, then.” He offers her his arm and even though her parents have always told her not to go with strangers it’s with a smile reaching from ear to ear that she takes his arm and softly answers. “I would love that.”

-

“Hakyeon? It’s Jaehwan… what? No, no, it went fairly easy, she didn’t even use a fake name,” Jaehwan says, taking a look at his reflection in the mirror. A bit of her wine-red lipstick has smeared on his jaw. With the sleeve of his black shirt he attempts wiping it off, unfortunately only managing to remove a tiny bit of it. It’s very persistent. Just like her.

“I’m gonna need some of your clean-up guys at my studio though,” he carries on with the conversation, pressing the phone between his shoulder and ear as he buttons the three top buttons off his shirt. There’s a moment of silence, only the faint muttering of the person on the other end of the phone being heard. Jaehwan hums lightly in response to the other male’s word, and adds. “I’ll come after I’ve let in your guys.” Silence again. An open window is letting in a cold wind which plays around in the silk curtains, inviting in rays of moonlight every now and then.

“Alright, I’ll see you later,” Jaehwan finishes off the conversations, giving the person on the other end a few seconds to reply before he finishes the call, the smartphone screen turning black. He tears himself away from the mirror and turns to look at her on the bed. The lights have been turned off, but he can still see in the faint light from the windows.

She’s lying in the center of the bed, her Louboutin shoes carelessly left by the side of the bed. Her bright red dress is in stark contrast to the clean white sheets of the bed, and it gives off a weird feeling, as if she doesn’t belong there. Her black nylon stocking is wrapped around her neck like a scarf, dark blue and red bruising tainting the milk white skin of her neck. Her mouth is still opened in a last desperate cry for help and a tear has escaped her empty eyes, leaving a trail of black eyeliner down her cheek. Looking at her now, Jaehwan can’t really find the beauty in her that he saw at the museum. Then again, it was never his plan to spend more than a couple of hours with her, so what does it really matter.

“Silly girl,” Jaehwan mutters, his voice as light and carefree as the birds in the early morning. The joy of having finished his task rushes through him, crippling over his lips in a crooked smirk. Hakyeon will reward him well.


	2. Chapter I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Alright…” Hakyeon mumbles reluctantly. “But you better not screw this up, I don’t have time to clean up your mess."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry about the long wait for this first chapter - i will try to be better! this one goes out to my wife christine~~ thank you for always being patient with me, and helping me with the proof-reading of my fics ♥ ilysm
> 
> EDIT: This was edited on July 30th 2018

The heart of Seoul grows smaller and smaller beneath him as the glass box carries him higher and higher above the ground. Taekwoon has never been frightened by heights, but as he passes the 6th, 7th and 8th floor he can’t help but feel a bit uneasy. Knowing about Hakyeon’s fear of heights Taekwoon has never understood how he manages to stay in an office almost 60 meters above the ground every day.

The elevator comes to a halt at the 15th floor, a light ‘ding’ announcing their arrival before the door slides open with a metallic hum. Taekwoon steps out and is met by a guy guarding the doors of Hakyeon’s office. As usual. He’s a rather big fellow, the buttons of his shirt barely managing to keep it together and the tip of a tattooed dragon’s tail peeping out from his collar. Taekwoon gives him a nod and proceeds to the door but is stopped when the gorilla-like guard blocks his way with his arm.

“N has asked to speak with me,” Taekwoon says. He has been working under Hakyeon for years, but he’ll never get used to using his alias. Only the inner circle of the group knows each other’s true identities, and Taekwoon always needs to be extra careful not to say too much. The guard shakes his head.

“He’s in a meeting,” he answers snappishly, barely looking at Taekwoon. He must be new. Hakyeon has a variety of bodyguards, but this is the first time Taekwoon has experienced being denied access to Hakyeon’s office.

“He told me it was urgent,” he says.

“Master N is very busy,” the guard says.

“Do you know who I am?” Taekwoon says, a hint of annoyance in his words. He hates pulling the authority card. But Hakyeon had told him to show up at this exact time, and there are other things he would rather be doing than standing here and arguing with one of Hakyeon’s gorillas. When the guard doesn’t reply he continues. “I’m Leo, and I do not think Hakyeon would take kindly to you holding me back.” It’s very small, but Taekwoon clearly sees the insecurity his words spark in the guard. The usual response upon hearing his name.

“I-I’m-… well… he’s speaking with Master Ken,” the guard stutters, lowering his arm. Taekwoon takes the opportunity and brushes past the guard, pushing the door open.

The first thing that catches his eye is Jaehwan who’s sitting on top of Hakyeon’s desk, enthusiastically talking in a hushed voice receiving a wide smile from Hakyeon. His hand is resting on Jaehwan’s lap, his long fingers wrapped around his thigh. At the sound of the door slamming behind Taekwoon, Hakyeon looks up.

“Taekwoon,” he says, letting go of Jaehwan.

“You asked to see me,” Taekwoon says.

“Oh yes, you are correct,” Hakyeon says his eyes seeking the clock to confirm Taekwoon’s words. An almost inaudible sigh escapes Jaehwan, and he jumps off the table.

“I should get going,” he mutters, clearly annoyed by Taekwoon’s abrupt interruption. He’s about to leave when Hakyeon grabs him by the wrist, forcing Jaehwan to turn his head and look at him.

“You did well… Jaehwan,” he says in his honey-sweet voice. “Go and get some rest.” Jaehwan’s face softens and he gives Hakyeon a final nod before leaving the room.

“I’m sorry about the delay,” Hakyeon says, the leather chair squeaking loudly as he leans back. “Jaehwan unexpectedly fixed the problem with the snitch… Lee Yejin.” A tiny smile pulls the corner of his lips at his own words. Taekwoon only nods in response, trying to push down the envy he feels from seeing Hakyeon’s smile as he speaks of Jaehwan.

“I need you to do something for me,” Hakyeon says, cutting right to the chase. He rests his elbows on the table, intertwining his fingers. “Gunhee and his group has been behind on their payment for a couple of weeks. I’ve set up a meeting with him later today, and I would like you to take care of it.” Taekwoon nods silently at his words.

“I can make Jaehwan go with you to do the talking if you’d like,” Hakyeon continues, but Taekwoon quickly shakes his head. “I can manage it on my own.”

“Are you sure?” Hakyeon asks, a furrow forming between his eyebrows as he looks up at Taekwoon, who nods in reply.

“Alright…” Hakyeon mumbles reluctantly. “But you better not screw this up, I don’t have time to clean up your mess… I’m busy enough as it is with Jaehwan’s studio.”

 

-

 

‘You better not screw this up,’ Taekwoon mentally repeats mockingly, unknowingly releasing a snort. The crowd of people surrounding him on the sidewalk slowly thins out as he walks down side street after side street. It’s been a couple of hours since he left Hakyeon’s office, but still he can’t shake off the nagging feeling which is lingering in the back of his head. Fair enough, he might have lost his patience with Hakyeon’s dealers a few times, but still he wishes that Hakyeon would trust him more. After all, they’ve known each other since childhood. In fact, Taekwoon believes Hakyeon is the closest thing to a ‘best friend’ he has ever had. Therefore he hadn’t hesitated when Hakyeon had offered him a job with him, after he had inherited his father’s business.

Finally, Taekwoon arrives at the alley Hakyeon instructed him to meet Gunhee in. To no surprise he hasn’t arrived yet. The only things which greet Taekwoon are the foul-smelling dumpsters, their flakey blue painting the only hint of color. The tall apartment buildings surrounding him leaves the alley in darkness despite it being broad daylight.

“Typical,” Taekwoon mutters to himself as his wrist watch reveals that Gunhee is already ten minutes late. He sighs but as he walks further into the darkness his mental stream of curses and oaths levelled at Gunhee is interrupted by a faint cry coming from behind one of the dumpsters. He immediately stops dead in his tracks, pinning back his ear. Another cry. Taekwoon finally identifies it as a meow. He squats down next to the dumpster and locks eyes with a pair of yellow eyes.

“Hello, you,” Taekwoon quietly greets the cat in a soft voice, getting a tiny meow in return. It’s a rather small cat, no more than a year old, with black fur, spots of dirt covering it from searching through the dumpsters for food. He stretches his hand towards the kitten, allowing it to smell him. At first, it’s a little hesitant, backing away at his sudden movement. But shortly after, it gains courage and curiously sticks its head out, nostrils flaring as it takes in his scent.

“It’s alright,” Taekwoon says, keeping his voice low. Suddenly, as if struck by lightening, the kitten flinches, quickly fleeing to its hiding spot behind the dumpster. Taekwoon has no time to check what startled the cat before he feels something heavy hitting him in the back of his head. His chest hits the ground, the cement ground scraping his chin. Stars are dancing before his eyes, and his weak attempt at getting up from the ground quickly fails.

“This must be the notorious Leo,” Taekwoon recognizes Gunhee’s voice above him. “Honestly, I would have expected someone from the inner circle of Geurimja to be a little more… impressive.” Once again Taekwoon attempts pushing himself up from the ground, but a boot to his stomach punches all air out of him, leaving him coughing, gasping for air. He should have known they were planning an ambush. How could he have been foolish enough to let his guard down? He reaches for the gun in his inner pocket but receives another kick in his arm. Gunhee continues speaking somewhere above him, delighted by their successful ambush of Taekwoon, but his words mix with the ringing in his ears. Combined with his watering eyes making him blind to the world around him, he feels as if he’s in a bubble of static. That is until a loud voice cuts through the void.

“POLICE, GET DOWN ON THE GROUND.” He senses commotion going on around him followed by more yelling. He does his best to blink away the tears in his eyes and to get ahold of himself.

“Sir?... Sir, can you hear me,” a male voice says, sounding surprisingly close to him. He looks up and as the world around him is finally clearing up his eyes lock with a pair of shining brown eyes. The almost doe-like eyes belong to a male, not much older than himself, wearing a blue uniform.

“Sir? Can you hear me?” the male asks, a furrow of concern between his brows. Taekwoon feels as if he’s taking another blow to the gut as the guy’s low-pitched voice softly wraps around him. Luckily, he’s quickly brought back to his senses when he realizes the blue uniform the male is wearing is a police uniform.

“Y-yes, I’m fine,” Taekwoon says not very convincingly and finally looks at the mess around him. There’s another police officer in the alley who’s pointing a handgun at Gunhee and two other of Hakyeon’s dealers who has been handcuffed on the ground and talking into a  walkie talkie with his free hand.

“What’s your name?” the doe-eyed officer speaks again, pronouncing every syllable clearly, as if talking to someone slow-witted. “Do you know where you are?”

“My name’s Taekwoon,” Taekwoon answers. “And we’re in Seoul… Seocho district.” He tries keeping his answers short and precise, knowing that he needs to get off the scene as quickly as possible. He recalls hearing similar questions being asked once before. It had been that time on the playground during playtime with Hakyeon. They hadn’t been more than eight years old. Taekwoon remembers seeing Hakyeon losing his grip on the monkeybars and falling, hitting his head on the ground. A teacher near the scene had called an ambulance immediately, and Taekwoon recalls the ambulance people asking Hakyeon similar questions to what he had just been asked. He remembers how empty he had felt after they had driven Hakyeon away, how he had wished that it was him in that ambulance instead of Hakyeon. Nowadays it seemed that Taekwoon was the one to take those kind of hits when Hakyeon was being careless.

“Alright Leo, we’ll get an ambulance here as soon as we can, so we can make sure you’re okay,” the cop in front of him says. He follows up his words with a calm reassuring smile, which makes Taekwoon feel warm from his ears all the way down to his toes.

“N-no thank you,” Taekwoon stutters, finally pushing himself up from the ground. “I’m really fine.” For a moment the world takes a violent spin around him, almost sending him back on the ground. But he regains control of his body and is about to leave the alley when he feels a hand on his shoulder. He turns his head to once again look at the doe-eyed cop. This time he notices the name tag on his uniform. Lee Hongbin.

“I really think it would be best if we got a profesional to take a look at you,” the cop, whose name is apparently Hongbin, insists. “It was quite a hit you took there.”

There’s a moment of silence between them while Taekwoon tries to think of a way to get out of this situation. Going to a hospital will only get him in far more trouble than he already is with Hakyeon. When he doesn’t immediately reply, Hongbin opens his mouth to speak again, but his voice is drowned by the loud siren of the police car pulling up to the alley. Another pair of policemen step out of the car, to help Hongbin and his partner take care of Gunhee and the others. Hongbin is distracted for a short moment and Taekwoon seizes the chance to escape, walking hastily away from the alley. He constantly turns his head to make sure that he isn’t being followed, bumping into everyone and everything that doesn’t manage to jump out of his way in time.

After a solid ten minutes of speed-walking away from the alley Taekwoon is out of breath, his head pounding like crazy. He manages to turn into another alley before his legs collapse under him and once again he falls to the ground. He pants, his warm breath brushing over his clenched fist. His arms are shaking, and he feels sicker than he has in a long time. For a short moment he’s certain he’s going to vomit. But through deep breathes he keeps it in.

He isn’t quite sure how long he lies like that in the alley. He keeps slipping in and out of consciousness, feeling like he’s floating in a black void of nothingness, only the constant ringing in his ears to accompany him. That is until he hears a faint ringing. He opens his eyes. It has gotten dark. For a minute he isn’t quite sure what brought him back until his phone rings again. With a groan he manages to get the phone out of his pocket, accepting the call.

“Taekwoon? Where in the world are you!” Hakyeon asks on the other end. His voice is angry, but Taekwoon can still sense a bit of worry behind his words.

“I… I’m not quite sure,” Taekwoon mutters, rubbing his temple with his index finger.

“You better get your ass back here immediately,” Hakyeon continues. “How did it go?” Taekwoon is silent for a moment, not quite sure of what Hakyeon is saying. But then he remembers the reason to why his brain has been turned into scrambled egg.

“They got them,” Taekwoon says. “The cops.” Hakyeon curses on the other end.

“Goddammit Taekwoon, I told you not to screw this up!” Hakyeon says, his voice raising to a yell. Taekwoon has to keep the phone away from his ear. Talking with Hakyeon has brought back his nausea and he has to rest his hand on the ground for a minute, closing his eyes. Faintly, he can hear Hakyeon calling his name, but his voice grows smaller and smaller until it becomes nothing.

.

.

.

.

“Taekwoon.”

Taekwoon opens his eyes. For a moment he isn’t sure where he is. The last thing he remembers is talking with Hakyeon on the phone in the alley, but the rest from there on is a blur. He seems to be inside, the lights dimmed in the room, covering everything in darkness. It takes a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the light, and slowly he recognizes Hakyeon’s office.

“Taekwoon.” He hears his name called once again. He tries sitting up to find the voice, but his body is so heavy, keeping him down. Instead he turns his head, trying to locate the speaker. It doesn’t take him long to spot Hakyeon, who’s sitting on the coffee table in front of him. When he notices that Taekwoon is awake, he gets up and squats down next to the couch, his eyes meeting with Taekwoon’s.

“How are you feeling?” Hakyeon says, his voice much softer than when he was speaking with Taekwoon on the phone earlier.

“I’m… fine,” Taekwoon answers sluggishly, his voice slowed down by whatever drug Hakyeon must have given him. His head is still throbbing, but it feels like it’s layers down in his brain. “How… did you find me?”

“Changkyun tracked down your phone,” Hakyeon explains calmly, gently pushing back Taekwoon’s bangs. “And then I got Hyunwoo and Hoseok to pick you up.” There’s a moment of silence between them. Words seem nearly impossible to take form in the daze Taekwoon is in, but at last he manages to mutter a quiet “I’m sorry.”

Hakyeon sighs. “I told you not to screw this up.”

“I’m sorry,” Taekwoon repeats.

“It’s alright... But do as I say next time and bring Jaehwan with you,” Hakyeon says, giving Taekwoon’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I can’t have all my best men rendered harmless by concussions.” Taekwoon smiles weakly, relieved that Hakyeon is taking it so calmly. He isn’t sure what he was nervous about. Hakyeon always treats him better than his other men. He has always treated Taekwoon better than other people.

“Did anyone see you?” Hakyeon asks, the firmness suddenly returning to his voice.  

“One…” Taekwoon mutters, his gaze shifting to the ceiling. “There… there was one.”

“Who was he?” Hakyeon continues asking, trying to make sense out of Taekwoon’s incoherent muttering.

“Doe…a doe,” Taekwoon  continues, his voice fading out as he’s losing the fight to the fatigue, which is slowly consuming him. Hakyeon looks at him for a few moments, baffled by his words, before giving up on gaining more information from him.

“You need to rest,” he sighs, getting up from the ground. He retrieves a blanket from under the couch, folds it out and shakes it before pulling it over Taekwoon, who mutters something incoherent in response.

“You can sleep here,” Hakyeon continues talking, as he tugs in Taekwoon. “Explaining can wait till tomorrow.” He’s wasting his breath as Taekwoon is already far gone, a pair of deep brown eyes flashing before him , before he’s finally pulled down into a pit of dark warm sleep.


End file.
